A different point of view in the world of wine.

August 13, 2007

He's slippin all the way to Texas - can you dig it?

I've been thinking a lot lately about mythology. Yes, I recently read American Gods, but that's not what I'm talking about really. Around the same time, I read Michael Tolliver Lives - that book is full of the mythology that I'm thinking of. I've read almost all of Armistead Maupin's books (I could never get into the one about the midget, but Wade quite liked it), and have enjoyed them - they're fun entertainment. He's created this layered mythology of what San Francisco is about; nouveau bohemians, sexual liberation, plague times, old money, etc. Like all myths there's a basis in truth, San Francisco has more than it's fair share of the eccentric and unusual. It is a myth at the end of the day - people in the real world don't live in the communal atmosphere of Barbary Lane, real life is far more complicated than choosing between one's biological and "logical" families.

I suppose this is on my mind because of my impending move. I've never been comfortable with the media built mythology of California. I've lived in CA for 11.5 years, and I've never felt like a Californian, nor have I ever wanted to. So now I'm moving to the other great mythical state of our union - Texas.

Everyone in California is assuming that I'm about to move to some sort of wine wilderness - a place where no one drinks French wine, and the local product is best paired with roast armadillo. People in San Francisco think that once you leave the state people only eat at chain restaurants and drink white zinfandel.

CC says, "It seems to me, however, that wine is finally taking off as a beverage of the masses, not an elitist nectar..." I agree with her. That's what I've seen in Austin - where once friends and family would meet over a glass of iced tea or beer, now you'll often find wine.

I hope to make the most of that. I also hope that being in an underdog city - a place where good food and wine aren't a foregone conclusion, but rather something people are genuinely excited about - will give me some perspective on what real people drink, and how to get people to drink real wine.